>What has Become of Our Green Leaders? Why This Deadly Silence by Their Inner Circle?

Translator’s note: I decided to translate this piece as it spoke to my heart. It spoke the words I have wanted to cry out loud every minute of this past week. It told the story of disappointment and dismay by so many Green activists who are still speechless as to why so many Green media outlets, particularly those closely associated with the opposition leaders, chose to remain silent for as long as they did, in light of the illegal abduction of the leaders of Iran’s opposition movement by this oppressive regime. Did the brave nation of Iran not have the right to know the true fate of their leaders? Did Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who remained steadfast in their support and defense of the people’s rights over the past two years deserve to be treated this way? What went on behind closed doors? So many questions remain unanswered… What is clear however, is that we let them down…. We turned our back on the very two individuals who had put their lives on the line and acted as the voice for the voiceless in a country where anarchy rules….My gratitude to Bali Irani for writing the original Farsi text.

I cried for hours…. I felt such regret… What had they done to our people? What had they done to the honorable leaders of our Green movement Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, Sheikh Mehdi Karroubi and his wife Fatemeh Karroubi? Why this deadly silence by their inner circle? Why did the online media outlets such as Kaleme and Saham News not publish the cries by Mir Hossein Mousavi’s daughters that their parents were no longer in their home and there was no news regarding their well being? Why did they remain silent until Fereshte Ghazi of Roozonline published the news?

Shame on the groups that have taken it upon themselves to speak on behalf of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Sheikh Mehdi Karroubi now when they chose to remain utterly silent for two weeks! Shame on all those who were aware that the beloved leaders of Iran’s Green movement were in prison, yet chose to remain silent.

Why were you silent??? What were you afraid of???? Did you fear the collapse of a dictatorial regime? Did our people not have a right to know about the brutalities and disrespect endured by our beloved leaders? Did they not have a right to know that their leaders had been arrested?

This silence was so deadly and so long that even when you finally revealed the truth, many were hesitant to believe it.

As an Iranian citizen, as a supporter of Mir Hossein Mousavi and Sheikh Mehdi Karroubi, as a supporter of Zahra Rahnavard and Fatemeh Karroubi, as a supporter of all prisoners of conscience oppressed at the hands of this blood thirsty regime, as a supporter of the Mourning Mothers whose children are being tortured either on the streets of Iran or executed inside its notorious prisons, I demand answers from all those who remained silent after the illegal abduction of the Green opposition leaders.

Why did you not report the fact that our beloved Green leaders had been abducted and transferred from their home to an undisclosed location? Why did you remain utterly silent for two entire weeks? Why after two weeks of silence did you announce demonstrations without having a real plan of action? Why put the lives of so many young Iranians in danger again without a plan? Why have so many arrested yet again if you had planned to remain silent? What were the objectives of these demonstrations? What are the objectives moving forward? Wasn’t our goal to ensure that our Green leaders and all political prisoners be freed? Did we achieve our goal? Is it realistic to think that holding demonstrations once a week will enable us to reach our goals, or are we only further empowering our enemy?

Why did you abandone Mir Hossein, Sheikh Mehdi and their families? Is this what our leaders, the brave people of our nation and our youth deserved?

Perhaps you remained silent, because you are fully aware of the possibility that this dictatorial regime (the regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran) may collapse. Unfortunately this regime is neither Islamic nor a Republic. It is neither of the people or for the people. Your utter silence only further emboldens a dictatorial regime. Your silence only further disgraces the martyrs of the Green people’s movement.

What are you afraid of? Regrettably your actions, whether willingly or not, have once again enabled the survival of dictatorship in our beloved Iran.